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To ensure the safety of as many children as possible, we need to have an open rational discussion about vaccine safety; 30 years ago, autism affected 1 in 10,000 children. Today, it afflicts as many as 1 in 50

If your baby has suboptimal gut flora, vaccines can become the proverbial "last straw" — the trigger that "primes" their immune system to develop chronic health problems

Evaluating differences in health outcomes among highly vaccinated and unvaccinated children could shed light on the vaccine safety conversation, but a large scale, well-designed study has never been done

By Dr. Mercola

The multiple award-winning documentary, "The Greater Good," was initially released in 2011. Five years later, the tragic truth about the toxic effects of vaccines on brain and immune system health that was revealed in this groundbreaking film is as true today as it was when it was first shown in film festivals around the country.

Weaving together stories of families whose lives have been forever altered by vaccine damage, the documentary reveals how modern medicine, especially when driven by politics, ideology and big business, can rob you of some of your most basic human rights, including voluntary, informed consent to medical risk-taking.

The results of such politically and financially driven public health policies can be devastating. "The Greater Good" is a provocative but thoughtful and well-documented examination of hot button vaccine topics. Uniquely, it includes the perspectives of prominent voices messaging differently about vaccination in mainstream media today — both those pushing for mandatory vaccination policies and those opposing forced vaccination policies.

The profiles of families, whose children have been injured or even died from vaccination are heartbreaking, and it is infuriating to learn about the short cuts that government and industry take to fast track vaccines like Gardasil, and how too many doctors dismiss vaccine reactions as "a coincidence." The film ends with a bittersweet but hopeful message, urging positive change to reduce fear so that parents, doctors and legislators can work together to protect the health of all children and prevent vaccine injuries and deaths.

Protecting Health of All Children Demands an Individual Approach to Vaccines

There needs to be an open, rational discussion about vaccination, infectious diseases and health. After all, don't all of us want our children to be healthy and safe from unnecessary harm?

If we want to protect the health of all children, we cannot continue to ignore the signs that public health policies making mandatory use of multiple vaccines in early childhood as our nation's No. 1 disease prevention strategy has gotten to the point where we have no idea how many children's lives are being sacrificed in the name of "the greater good."

From my point of view, there can be little doubt that we need to review the safety and effectiveness of the current vaccination program in the U.S., and that this review needs to include methodologically sound investigative studies that are not compromised by conflicts of interest within industry and government.

If we don't do that now, we may not be able to stop further damage to the health of future generations. I encourage you to watch the documentary, "The Greater Good," to become better informed about the science, politics and ethics of vaccination, a film you can view for free here during this year's Vaccine Awareness Week.

Autism and The Thinking Moms Revolution

A producer of "The Greater Good"1 has also released short videos with outtakes of interviews that were conducted for the film, as well as other information covering a number of vaccine topics. The video above is about the reported relationship between vaccination and autism, featuring mothers of vaccine injured children with autism from a group called The Thinking Moms Revolution.

Autism has skyrocketed over the past few decades and scientists and public health officials continue to argue about the reasons for why it is happening but something is clearly very wrong. Three decades ago, autism affected 1 in 10,000 children.2,3 Today, it's estimated to afflict as many as 1 in 50.4

While conventional medicine still claims there's no known cause for autism increases, Thinking Moms are speaking out about how they brought a healthy child in for vaccination, and watched their child deteriorate following that vaccination.

As stated by one mom: "In this country, we're indoctrinated to believe in vaccines, and believe there's this incredibly impeccable science behind them. [But] once you start the investigation and you realize how flimsy the evidence is, for safety in particular … that's when you realize how little of this is based on fact." On its website,5 "The Greater Good" team notes:

"In the early 2000s, CDC instructed vaccine makers to remove the mercury preservative in childhood shots. But as the mercury was being phased out of most childhood vaccinations, CDC recommended that pregnant women and infants at 6 months and again 7 months receive the flu shot — which they knew still contained mercury.

In addition to the flu shot, CDC began recommending that pregnant women also receive the Tdap vaccine (diphtheria, tetanus, and attenuated pertussis). So, pregnant women and their unborn babies are still being subjected to mercury-laden flu vaccines and aluminum-laden DTaP vaccines — and at an earlier point.

These vaccines during pregnancy contradict decades of advice to take no medications, quit smoking, stop drinking alcohol and avoid mercury laden seafood while pregnant, but people have been so conditioned to trust authority that they accept this, making it all too easy to tell parents, 'sorry, your kid was born that way' …

[G]overnment health officials maintain the charade that they are trying to find a cause for autism when they have blown $1.6 billion over the past decade looking for a supposed genetic cause despite ample science showing that environmental factors are the culprit."

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The Good News

The good news is there is much more information available today about alternative biomedical therapies. These are being used by open-minded doctors addressing the neuroimmune dysfunction that children with vaccine-associated autism are suffering. Some children diagnosed with "autism" are improving through use of special diets, supplementation regimens and detoxification protocols tailored to their individual needs.

As noted in the video, there's a vast "underground" movement of parents who are sharing their experiences and successes and there are enlightened doctors who have been able to help children with autism when conventional medicine falls short. The Gut and Psychology Syndrome (GAPS) protocol is, in my view, among the most important treatment strategies out there, but there are also many others.

The GAPS nutritional protocol was created by Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride, whose son was diagnosed with autism. She understands that there's a very important connection between damaged gut flora in pregnant women and developmental problems in their children, especially autism.

Establishing normal gut flora in the first 20 days or so of life plays a crucial role in the maturation of your baby's immune system. It's important to realize that babies who develop abnormal gut flora have compromised immune systems, which puts them at higher risk for suffering vaccine reactions.

In GAPS Babies, Vaccination Can Be 'the Last Straw'

If your baby has suboptimal gut flora, vaccines can become the proverbial "last straw" — the trigger that "primes" their immune system to develop chronic health problems. According to Campbell-McBride, in children with GAPS the toxicity flowing from their gut throughout their bodies and into their brains continually challenges their nervous system, preventing it from performing its normal functions and process sensory information.

Other researchers are now starting to back up her findings. For example, one 2013 study6 confirmed that autistic children have distinctly different microbiome compared to healthy children. Notably, they had fewer healthy bacteria, such as Bifidobacterium. Children diagnosed with autism also had markedly higher levels of toxic volatile organic compounds (VOCs).

I believe the GAPS Nutritional program is vitally important for most, as the majority of people have such poor gut health due to poor diet and toxic exposures, but it's particularly crucial for pregnant women and young children.

The best way to prevent GAPS is for the mother to avoid all processed foods, sugar, antibiotics (including CAFO meats and antibacterial soaps) and birth control pills prior to conception. These cause pathogenic yeast and fungi to grow and also cause leaky gut that allows undigested protein fragments to sneak into the bloodstream contributing to autoimmune disease. This can then be followed by breastfeeding and avoiding the use of antibiotics during (intrapartum) and after delivering.

It's also a good idea to make sure your baby's microbiome is healthy before getting any vaccinations. Fortunately, it's possible to rather inexpensively identify GAPS within the first weeks of your baby's life, which can help you make better-informed decisions about vaccinations, and about how to proceed to set your child on the path to a healthy life. The entire process for identifying children who would be at risk for developing autism from a vaccine is described in her book "Gut and Psychology Syndrome."

What Doctors Really Know About Vaccines

Another short video published on "The Greater Good" website makes the point that doctors are not being taught about vaccine risks in medical school. In short, doctors are being taught about administering vaccines but not about how to identify a vaccine reaction. Doctors strongly recommending and administering vaccines to children are not taught about the big gaps in vaccine safety science.

"They don't learn that no study exists comparing the medium or long term health outcomes of vaccinated to unvaccinated populations. They don't learn that vaccine safety studies don't use a true placebo, but instead use another vaccine or a solution containing mercury or aluminum as a placebo!

They don't learn that vaccine safety studies often last a few days to a few weeks keeping hidden long term side effects. They don't learn that vaccines can overwhelm the immune system and cause autoimmune disease. They don't learn that the aluminum in vaccines is known to cause cognitive impairment, autoimmune disease, gut issues and a host of other damage to healthy adults — goodness knows what they do to tiny infants.

They don't learn that the mercury in vaccines is documented in the medical literature as a potent neurotoxin and that it is still used in the manufacturing of some vaccines and as a preservative as well. They don't learn how the body processes the vaccine components because, well, no one has ever researched it."

In light of such vaccine education deficiencies in most medical schools, it becomes very important for parents to educate themselves — and their pediatricians, if they can — about how to identify and prevent vaccine reactions, injuries and deaths. And this is precisely why opening up discussions about these issues is so important. There are huge gaps in general knowledge, and huge gaps in research too, and those gaps really need to be addressed.

Why Won't the CDC Study Health Outcomes?

One study that could shed a lot of light on the vaccine safety conversation is a study comparing health outcomes of vaccinated versus unvaccinated children. As illogical as it seems, there has never been a large prospective well-designed study to evaluate whether children who remain unvaccinated or receive fewer vaccines, are more or less healthy than children who receive all federally recommended vaccines. These kinds of studies do not exist.

And so the controversy about whether or not use of multiple vaccines in early childhood is having long term adverse health effects and may do more harm than good continues. That said, unofficial surveys7,8 suggest that highly vaccinated children may have more chronic health problems than unvaccinated children, and that unvaccinated children have a far lower incidence rate of autism.

There's also a growing body of research suggesting that vaccines may be associated with a variety of brain and immune system disorders, including a potential increased risk for:

Learning and developmental disabilities

Brain damage

Allergies, asthma and gut problems

Autoimmune diseases

Chronic infections

Autism Rates Jump Each Time Vaccine Made From Human Fetal Cell Lines Is Released

A study describing one potential unrecognized safety issue associated with vaccines was published in the September 2014 issue of the Journal of Public Health and Epidemiology.9 It discussed a potential correlation between autism and three specific vaccines: MMR (measles, mumps, rubella), varicella (chickenpox) and hepatitis-A vaccines.
As reported by Global Research:10

"Using statistical analysis and data from the U.S. Government, U.K., Denmark and Western Australia, scientists at Sound Choice Pharmaceutical Institute (SCPI) found that increases in autistic disorder correspond with the introduction of vaccines using human fetal cell lines and retroviral contaminants.

Even more alarming, Dr. Theresa Deisher, lead scientist and SCPI founder noted that, 'Not only are the human fetal contaminated vaccines associated with autistic disorder throughout the world, but also with epidemic childhood leukemia and lymphomas.'"

The main argument for a vaccine-autism connection in the study is the introduction of vaccines manufactured with human fetal cell lines containing fetal and retroviral contaminants. The cell line in question is known as WI-38. According to the authors, autism rates rose sharply each time another one of these vaccines were released.

For example, in the U.S., autism rates jumped in 1980 to 1981 following the approval of MeruvaxII and MMRII, both of which were made with the human fetal cell line WI-38. Another jump in autism prevalence occurred in 1988, corresponding to three factors:

The addition of a second dose of MMRII

A highly successful measles vaccination campaign that raised compliance from 50 to 82 percent between the years 1987 and 1989

The introduction of Poliovax in 1987

In 1995, autism rates jumped again in response to the introduction of the Varicella vaccine, Varivax. In conclusion, the authors note that "rising autistic disorder prevalence is directly related to vaccines manufactured utilizing human fetal cells."

Although this is only one hypothesis for how and why vaccines may be contributing to the rising incidence of autism among children, there are many outstanding questions about vaccine science and policy that must be answered quickly before more vaccines are added to the government recommended and mandated list for children and adults.

In the meantime, to protect your own health and the health of your children, please empower yourself with information and become well informed about infectious diseases and vaccines so you can make wise health care choices.

You can access more information about vaccination and health on this website and on the website of the nonprofit charity, the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) at www.NVIC.org. The parent co-founders of NVIC, whose children were injured by DPT vaccine, launched the vaccine safety and informed consent movement in the U.S. in 1982. Their website is the largest and oldest website on the Internet publishing accurate, well referenced information about vaccination and infectious diseases.

• Post a video vaccine reaction report: You can make people more aware that vaccine reactions, injuries and deaths are real by posting a video vaccine reaction report on NVIC's online Memorial for Vaccine Victims here.

NVIC launched "Protect Life: Witness a Vaccine Reaction" on NVIC.org during Vaccine Awareness Week 2016, and I encourage you to participate if you or a loved one has experienced a serious vaccine reaction. Sharing your story of how vaccination changed your life or the life of someone you care about can educate and save other people from having to suffer in the same way.

• Take action to protect vaccine exemptions in your state: If you want to actively work in your state to protect legal vaccine exemptions so you are able to make voluntary vaccine choices for yourself and your children, I encourage you to sign up today to be a user of the free online NVIC Advocacy Portal, so you can be kept up to date on legislation moving in your state that may threaten vaccine exemptions and puts you in touch with your own elected representatives so you can make your voice heard.

It is up to all of us, individually, to participate in our democracy and make sure that that the laws, which govern us, do not infringe upon our civil liberties and take away our human right to exercise informed consent to vaccine risk-taking.

About the Director

I believe in bringing quality to my readers, which is why I wanted to share some information about the director, Kendall Nelson, from "The Greater Good." We sat down with Kendall to know a little more about what goes in to making these films. Thank you Kendall, for sharing the film with us. Don't forget to check out their Facebook Page HERE.

What was your inspiration for making this film?

My inspiration for making "The Greater Good" was to bring about awareness regarding vaccines and to explore both sides of the vaccine debate. Often, we are only presented the pro-vaccine side and it was important to me that we show that vaccine injury is real and not rare. It was my objective as a filmmaker to make a documentary that would encourage parents to do their own research so that they may make more informed choices for their families.

What was your favorite part of making this film?

My favorite part of making "The Greater Good" was getting to know the families we featured. Although it was often heart-wrenching, it was also very inspiring. I have also really enjoyed the education I have gotten along the way. I believe our film has paved the way for other films to talk about the vaccine issue. Maybe someday, it won't be such a taboo subject.

Where do the proceeds for your film go?

The proceeds for our film go to running an active engagement campaign to educate people about vaccines and to fight for health freedom, including fighting against the many state mandates we are seeing today.

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Disclaimer: The entire contents of this website are based upon the opinions of Dr. Mercola, unless otherwise noted. Individual articles are based upon the opinions of the respective author, who retains copyright as marked. The information on this website is not intended to replace a one-on-one relationship with a qualified health care professional and is not intended as medical advice. It is intended as a sharing of knowledge and information from the research and experience of Dr. Mercola and his community. Dr. Mercola encourages you to make your own health care decisions based upon your research and in partnership with a qualified health care professional. If you are pregnant, nursing, taking medication, or have a medical condition, consult your health care professional before using products based on this content.

If you want to use an article on your site please click here. This content may be copied in full, with copyright, contact, creation and information intact, without specific permission, when used only in a not-for-profit format. If any other use is desired, permission in writing from Dr. Mercola is required.

Disclaimer: The entire contents of this website are based upon the opinions of Dr. Mercola, unless otherwise noted. Individual articles are based upon the opinions of the respective author, who retains copyright as marked. The information on this website is not intended to replace a one-on-one relationship with a qualified health care professional and is not intended as medical advice. It is intended as a sharing of knowledge and information from the research and experience of Dr. Mercola and his community. Dr. Mercola encourages you to make your own health care decisions based upon your research and in partnership with a qualified health care professional. If you are pregnant, nursing, taking medication, or have a medical condition, consult your health care professional before using products based on this content.

If you want to use an article on your site please click here. This content may be copied in full, with copyright, contact, creation and information intact, without specific permission, when used only in a not-for-profit format. If any other use is desired, permission in writing from Dr. Mercola is required.